Pages

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Prizeapalooza!

** This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered. Stay tuned ... winners will be announced later today! **

Wow.

When I asked for some giveaway contributions to celebrate my 2 year blogiversary, I had no idea that I would get this kind of response. I can hardly believe the generosity that so many have shown in response to my request. I was able to collect an AMAZING set of giveaway prizes -- 16 in total! -- that I cannot wait to share with all of you. Some are from designers, others from companies, and many are handmade goods from quilters and crafters just like me & you. Eager to see what's up for grabs?

First, the guidelines ...

As with all of my other giveaways, all you need to do is leave me a comment. No need to follow me, or become a Facebook fan (not that I have a page), tweet, blog about my giveaway, jump through fiery hoops, cast evil spells, bend over backwards and stick your finger up your nose, etc. etc. I can certainly understand why other bloggers do those types of things, but I like to keep my giveaways easy & straightforward. Just say hi. Tell me what you like about my blog. Things I've made that you love. And maybe even what you'd like to see me do next.

Oh, I do have one request: please visit some of the nice folks that have donated prizes. They'll be happy to see you!

Good ol' Random.org will be the one picking the winners. It's a tough job. I don't envy him (her?)

Entries will close no earlier than midnight on Sunday night, April 25th, EST. Wait, if it's midnight, does that mean it's Monday morning? No matter. It might be a bit later. Regardless, you have a few days to enter, so get to it! I'll announce the winners sometime on Monday.

OK, OK ... enough with the fine print. On to the prize parade!

Giveaway prize #1:OK, this one should get you salivating ...

My first winner will win a full fat quarter set of one of the colorways of Modern Meadow, the latest line of quilting fabric by designer Joel Dewberry and donated by Joel & his lovely wife Laurie. (See, I told you it was good!)

Regular readers of my blog know that I'm a huge fans of all of Joel's collections, and this one might just be the best yet ... though you have to go a long way to beat Chestnut Hill in my book. Go visit Joel & Laurie at their blog and tell them that I said "hi"!

Giveaway prize #2:Fellow quilter and Bee Inspired member Deb Robertson has graciously offered to make a beautiful homemade giant pincushion for one of my readers. Who wouldn't love this beauty gracing his or her sewing table? Deb blogs at Works in Progress... and I'm sure she'd love some visitors!

Giveaway prize #3:OK, check this out. Another winner will receive this prize pack from Lark Books, containing three (that's right -- three! Not one, but THREE!) of their most inspirational books. The set includes Pretty Little Mini Quilts, Pretty Little Pillows, and Quilts, Baby ... ALL of which are currently on my Amazon Wish List. It's kind of cruel to be giving away so much stuff that I SO want to keep ...

Giveaway prize #4:Dolores, who blogs at deeroo designs, is offering up this GORGEOUS mini quilt that she made herself. Isn't is amazing? I could see this hanging up in an entryway, or a sunroom, or a kitchen, or ... anywhere, really! I can't think of a space that wouldn't be brightened up by this piece of art. Go tell Dee I said "hello" ... she loves to collect new blog followers (and rub it in my face!) : )

Giveaway prize #5:OK, hold on to your seats. My blog/Flickr/swap pal Kerri is offering an AMAZING prize -- a bundle of four half-yard cuts from her super-cute Etsy shop, Sew Deerly Loved. Kerri's shop specializes in the whimsical -- woodland friends, Heather Ross / Munki designs, and lots and lots (and lots) of aqua and red. If you love all of those things (& who doesn't?), then you should already be shopping at Kerri's store.

Giveaway prize #6:Ruth, who blogs at little olive branch, has put together a fabulous bundle o'scraps for a lucky winner. Oooh, I spy some AMH! And some Joel Dewberry! Momo Wonderland! And (gasp!) is that some Flea Market Fancy?

Ruth is a spunky young quilter who blogs about her crafty adventures in my hometown of New York City. She's a breath of fresh air and she's also a Twitter pal of mine. Follow her here.

Giveaway prize #7:Are you out of breath yet? Well, you're not going to find any relief here.

Meet Allie, who blogs at Strandz, runs a longarm quilting service, and has an awesome Etsy shop. One lucky winner will win Allie's donation of her longarm quilting services, including an all-over design up to a twin size quilt.

Again, as I write this I am left wondering ... am I eligible to win my own giveaway prizes??! Lord knows I have a TON of quilt tops waiting to be finished! OK, OK ... I'll leave this one for one of you.

Giveaway prize #8:Prize #8 come courtesy of one Chantry Banks. Chantry, who blogs at The House of ChaBanks, made this pretty little clutch purse especially for my giveaway and for one of my lucky readers!

Chantry is an actor, a Floridian, and an all around creative & crafty guy. I'm thrilled to be offering a one-of-a-kind House of ChaBanks original to you!

Giveaway prize #9:Do you know Jackie from Canton Village Quilt Works? I'll bet you do! It seems that everyone knows Jackie. She is a prolific creater, longarm quilter, business owner, multimedia maven, and all-around amazing woman. She's also a huge supporter of the online quilting community and has always been a big supporter of mine, from day one. I can always count on Jackie for a nice, thoughtful comment every time I post here.

Jackie has generously offered to donate an elusive Kona Cotton Roll Up to my birthday celebration. Thanks for all you do, Jackie!

Giveaway prize #10:I am sure you can relate to Cindy. Cindy, who blogs at cindyquilts, is overrun with scraps and doesn't know what to do. Here's a great solution -- donate some scraps to one of my winners. What's that you say? 100 3"x3" squares? And some 5" squares to boot? I am sure one of my readers can create something BEAUTIFUL with that much fabric.

Thanks, Cindy!

Giveaway prizes #11 & #12:Sarah from the Missouri Star Quilt Company wanted to help out and offered up some charm packs from the shop. "Great", I said, "I would love to give away a charm pack. How generous of you!" And Sarah said, "No, I said SOME charm packs. How do 6 sound?" (OK, I'm paraphrasing ...)

Nevertheless, TWO lucky winners will each win 3 charm packs ... one each from the following Westminster fabric lines: Jennifer Paganelli's Dance With Me, Valori Wells' Del Hi, and Dena Designs' Monaco.

Gah! Now you can see why I am thinking to myself, "what if I just keep all of these prizes and just disappear from the bloggy world forever? Would anyone chase after me??" But of course, I could never do that to you guys ....

But wait! There's more ...

Giveaway prizes #13 & #14:I first met Terri of Sew Fantastic on the Flickr swap circuit, where she has always made beautiful things. She also sells beautiful things in her fantastic Etsy shop. Lucky for us, Terri has offered up two of her popular (& functional!) Mini Shopper notepad clutches. Furthermore, Terri is offering ALL of you 15% discount off of all purchases in her shop (not including shipping) until my giveaway winners are announced. Just enter promo code QUILTDAD2YEARS when making your purchase.

Thanks, Terri!

Giveaway prize #15:I was so happy to hear from new-to-me blogger Shruti, who lives in India. Check out her blog for her beautiful story of starting her own "upcycling" business on her blog. Shruti is offering up this handmade iPad case as part of my giveaway. Cool, huh?

Giveaway prize #16:And finally, the booty that I'll be offering up to a lucky winner. The first item will be a free copy of the inaugural issue of Fat Quarterly, the new e-Zine that I'm launching with five other insanely talented quilters.

The second part of my prize will be a fat quarter bundle of some coordinating prints that I picked out especially for you at my local quilt shop today! It's actually going to be hard for me to let them go -- I'm growing kind of attached to them. No pics yet, but I'll update this post as soon as I can get a good shot.

Whew! So what do you think? It's a good one, huh?! : )

Please leave me a comment to enter, and spread the word! I appreciate your tweets and blog posts to let others know about my giveaway. Yes, I know that will lessen your chances to win ... but we quilters are a generous lot.

But you already knew that based on all the prizes listed here, didn't you? : )

821 comments:

Well, I like these prizes, My favorite blog post ever was the one about Modify Tradition. However, what I like about all your blog posts is that you write plenty about your crafts. I like a good balance of words and pictures.

HI!! I can't believe all the people who donated to help make this birthday a big giveaway bash! I'm a new follower to your blog, and a new quilter! I really liked the pillows that you had posted on Moda Bake Shop recently. :D You inspire me to get quilting!!

Hi! I do enjoy your blog, very much! My very first quilt, EVER, was a wonky log cabin. Your tutorial was printed out and much referred to all along the way! I appreciate the generosity of experienced quilters as I navigate my own quilting journey!

Oh my goodness, this is the grandaddy of all giveaways :). I really enjoy your blog because you seem very down to earth, and you quilt in the midst of "real life" and all its demands (just like most of us!). I'm drooling over the grand prize. I too am a BIG fan of Joel Dewberry.

OHHHHH!!!! All of these prizes are awesome! I've been a follower since your wonky log cabin quilt along. I love your style, and I love that you give me hope that one day, my hubs will join me at the sewing machine. Fat chance, I know. BUT, hope is a good thing. So thanks for that sliver of it.

Wow. What great prizes. Such generosity from all. I enjoy your blog so much and if you did have a facebook page that we be great so I could share the page with my other crafty friends. Thanks for sharing!

Gosh, you DO have generous friends! :o) I like your blog because it makes me think there is hope for me to be a better quilter in a short period of time. Thanks for blogging all your techniques and quilts!

Holy moly! Congratulations to you on two years and on scoring such awesome giveaway goodies! I love your use of color! Being married to a man that has no sense of color, it's so refreshing for you to put together such beautiful fabrics in modern, fresh ways.

Congratulations John! One of my fav projects that you did was the string runner for the Bake Shop and I always love to see what you do for your bee blocks. Your work always seems so fresh and is presented very concisely. Good luck with your new endevour, Fat Quarterly

Wow - tons of great stuff in your giveaways! I think I'd want to take it all and run too, if I were you.

I've been reading your blog for a while, but don't think I've ever commented. My favourite thing: you've always got a lot of interesting things to show and the write-ups are as interesting as the pictures.

Aloha! I love your blog because I've learned a lot-you always write great tutes with lots of pictures. I also love it cause you're a guy! And I love to see real men at a sewing machine!Great prizes is right! And I really think you ought to keep your favorite!

Wow!! How fun!! Happy Blogiversary! I am fairly new to your blog, but I love it. I am looking forward to Fat Quarterly. I am in a bee with two of the girls in the group Katy and Brioni. I really enjoy seeing your quilts but gosh you do have darling children!! Thank you for this chance!

I love your aesthetic - and I really love seeing all the block swaps - it is fun to see how their ideas fit with your interpretation and such - it is neat to see the fabric selections people choose and how you create wonderful things from them.

I love that your 'voice' really shines through in your posts. Lots of personality on this blog & I love it. It doesn't hurt that you have fantastic taste in fabrics and make beautiful things either!Happy 2yrs!! (& thanks to all of the generous giveaway-ers!!)Jaclyn

This is really a giveaway to end all giveaways! Thank you so much for offering a chance at so many awesome gifts. Well, I enjoy reading your blog, because I think it's so cool that there are guys out there quilting.

I've got you in my Google Reader to check on everyday! I like to see all the different fabrics you use. Your wonky stars for a swap were some of my favorites. I also loved the embroidery flickr photos.

OMG - what a lineup! What I love about your blog is the amount of time you spend complimenting other people - often others in your quilting bees and flickr groups, and in this case all of the generous individuals who have donated all of these lovely prizes. It's very generous of you. Your kind words about others has also inspired me to check out many other sites that I have come love. Keep up the good work, and thank you!

John, thanks for the fun, amazing giveaway! And thanks for the frequent inspiration. I love the fabric reviews, the "stretch" into embroidery (as in flexing other creative muscles), and the amazing quilt ideas. One of my first jumps back into quilting was your "turning corners" table runner . . . so much fun.

Happy Blogiversary!! Wow I can't believe all these wonderful prizes. A friend from our quilting group referred us to you for your wonky block tutorial and I have been following ever since! I love the wonky blocks and you have such great projects on Moda Bake Shop- Keep up the great work.

Holy Kazam!! That's some serious giveaways! Congrats on 2 years! I've been following for only about 6 months. Your site is so inspirational, and I adore your fabric stash! I am a huge Joel fan also! CHEERS!!

Happy Blogiversary!! I like the NC logo - go tar heels. It is a sweet reminder to me where my child gets her name. Miss Carolina was concieved in the lovely state and I hope to one day be the mother of an NC grad!! Have fun with your contest and I hope I win something!

I love reading your blog - its the first blog I ever began reading and one of the reasons I started my own blog. I was unfamiliar to blogs until this past summer/fall when I randomly came across yours when searching for a log cabin tutorial. I loved the creativity and fun oozing in your posts and became hooked. Thanks for your inspiration and generosity!

First off congratulations on your blog anniversary! Secondly I like your blog because you make wonderful quilts and use great modern fabrics by designers I love! Thank you for having a really fabulous give away, Sharonj.

oh my, what a haul of giveaways you have, I read the blogs of some of your generous prize givers but somehow have not come upon your before- glad to have found you! Now I am going to say for a poke around!

Wow, those are some great prizes for sure. I found you recently when I was looking for a tutorial on making wonky log cabin blocks, and yours was by far the best that I found. I began making squares, with the help of your tut, a few weeks ago and now I'm hooked! Thank you for creating such wonderful work!

Wowza! What a way to celebrate your blogiversary! I initially found your blog because of the gorgeous Anthropologie inspired pillow you made for the pillow swap and have been a fan ever since! Thanks for the giveaways!

I've just been introduced to the world of quilt blogging so this is all very new to me and then to see giveaways especially like your 2ND anniversary one! Wow! Hope you enjoy continued success! Good luck to us all!

Amazing prizes! I am new to your blog, have only visited a few times, but am impressed with your color choices and modern designs. I'm glad you're a proud dad and a quilter and enjoy sewing and crafting. Congratulations on your blogaversary (I just had my one year a couple of months ago).

Holy Cow...what a giveaway!!! Very generous donations, obviously they think your a "great thing" to offer up such awesome support. I enjoy reading your blog. you have a great eye and not afraid to do something outside the box, I am trying to get there. thank you for sharing and have a great weekend!

This is an amazing prize list and maybe the first time I've commented on the prize :) I like to think I helped start your internet fandom ... I'm athenamat from Craftster and I hosted the Quilt Block swaps there. I enjoy all of your work and all the updates about your family.1

I LOVE your use of color! Your designs are also very original. The tutorial you did on Wonky Log Cabin is great. Fact be, I don't think you have done anything I don't like...lol! You just jumped in to quilting and have done marvelous. I started reading your blog because you are a man quilter. I wanted to see a man's take on quilting and design. I have not been disappointed. Thanks for a super blog that is so inspiring. Happy 2nd blogiversary.

Happy blogoversary! I just recently began to follow your blog and your projects inspire and motivate me. To see such generous gifts given in celebration, just proves the generosity and talent of quilters everywhere!

Happy blogiversary!! I love your blog because of the lovely things you make. Your sense of shape and colour is great and the resulting projects fantastic. What a fantastic lot of prizes! I'll certainly go and visit the generous donors!

First I had to browse your blog and am loving it - a good mixture of different types of quilting. My mum does not like modern patterns esp the one I am working on now. Its interesting that a lot of people are now adding embroidery into their quilting. Must look into it but at the moment these fingers are itching for some tatting and crocheting.

Generous, generous, generous. OK, so you don't get people to jump through hoops for your MASSIVE giveaway but that makes me want to. So I've name checked FQ in my post today and I might put a button for your giveaway into my blog as well if I get time today (although my kids are off school today because their teacher is stuck in Florida and can't get back to lil ole England because of Icelandic volcanic ash (go figure!). LOVE your blog and I am super excited about FQ!

This is an amazing giveaway John! I think your blog and your presence in the online quilting and embroidery community (all the swaps, bees, moda bakery, blogging for feeling stitchy and now fat quarterly) is truly inspiring Keep up the good work! :)

Congrats on your 2 year blog anniversary. Its so great to see a guy quilting! Your blog is new to me, Jackie showed me the way :o) i will make a post on my blog, www.myequiltingoglittannet.blogspot.com, to get you some norwegians in aswell.Hope to get lucky om one of the prices!

And secondly, no, I don't quilt. odd, eh? But I do make an assortment of things like tissue holders, clutches, and plushies. So, if its not too picky of me, please only enter me for the scraps and cloths for this giveaway. (not the book, not the quilt, etc ) i wouldn't want to deprive anyone of a prize they want and that I couldn't use...

Wow John! You really outdid yourself here - these are awesome prizes! I love reading your blog, it's always so inspiring. And I'm having fun following you on Twitter now too! (@bdanderson - hi!) I love the quilting communities that have formed online, such a great resource for all of us!

I am speechless at the generosity of those who have donated to your giveaway John,it is simply unbelieveable and so very, very kind hearted and generous indeed.Bloggers reallydo come thru for one another huh, I quite like catching up on your blog every now and then, even without the giveaway. Keep it up!!

OH!!!MY!!!!G.....what a mother load you have here. Happy blogiversary and many more to come. I've been a follower of yours since the wonky log cabin quilt along. I have made two. My 17yr old grandaughter got one for Xmas and just loved it. Thank-you for sharing with us.I just love your generous and sharing nature. I also love to get a little glimpse of your family life. I just adore those little cherubs of yours. I do hope you nuture some creativity in them also. I have just taught my 6yr. old GD to sew. She gathers fabric worse than me. Her purchases are always bigger than mine. Oh! how could I say no to her?Thanks to all your generous donors.They are legends.

Congratulations on your anniversary! I love the fact that you are a dad and a quilter - so inspirational to all would-be non-conformist dads around. I also love the header on your blog - the colours are just so warm and welcoming.

How loved do you feel!! The thing that originally sent me to your blog is your hand embroidery work from FLIKR and I love how you incorporate them into your quilt projects! Who wants to be stuck at the machine all day peicing? This gives you some variation.

Hi Quilt Dad, and happy blogiversary! Wonderful prizes! I've gotten a lot of inspiration from the blocks you've shown from all the different swaps you are in. Not that I've made any of them. Too busy reading blogs!

Very cool prizes, John! I can understand your thoughts of just quietly disappearing from the blog world with the booty - - - but I have a feeling people would chase you down! You would be missed - you have such creative postings and designs! My husband says that if I win the iPad cover, it's a sign that he gets to buy an iPad, right? Haha! I'm hoping for fabric!!